Swamp Girl

About a week ago, on a cloudy afternoon, I caught one of the biggest bags of my life, about 24.6 pounds, based upon a length to weight chart. In 2025, I fished a stretch of low, bushy trees and caught eight bass in eight casts, my record for consecutive bass. They were all males, from 15 to 16.5 inches, but great fun, so I decided to return to this shoreline to see if they were there again. They weren't. Instead, females were there, tucked under the trees in two to three feet of water. I used the same lure that worked with the small males, a fat, white Whopper Plopper, and I didn't cast close to the trees, knowing that if the lure landed a tree, I'd likely kill the fishing that stretch to free it. Proximity didn't matter. I'd see a line in the water as the bass came out from under the trees to attack my lure and then the challenge was keeping the bass from returning to the trees once hooked. I used the scale in my kayak for quick measurements, but the bigger the bass, the quicker I return her to the water. The big ones are so rare, so I treat them with all due respect. Here are a few of them leading with the biggest, a 22-incher. You can see the trees behind most of the bass:

Kirtley, you did an excellent job of explaining a complex situation. I'm so glad that your docs have a fix. They don't always.

My primary lure is T-rigged soft plastic with an unpegged 3/16ths ounce weight. I prefer craws over worms, but that could change in a New York minute if I hooked a worm and that outproduced the craw. I do what the others do and catch thousands of bass, but I still think it's a difficult way to catch bass, starting with detecting a strike. Sure, there are times when the bass provide a clear tug to announce themselves, but there are times like last night when they take the bite and someone manage to swim at me at the exact rate of my retrieve. There's no tug, no feeling their weight, only the slight absence of my bait's weight. Yeah, I have to detect that absence of 3/16ths of an ounce to realize they're there. Then there are times when they charge my way and I can't reel down and set the hook fast enough. I'll do and set the hook on slack line, but the bass will still have my lure and still be coming my way. I think I enjoy this style of fishing so much because every hit is different. A new challenge.

I am watching my first reality show and am surprised by how I'm hooked. It's "Alone: Arctic Circle" and it being based on the Mackenzie River is what started me watching it, as I long wanted to paddle the Mackenzie. I am surprised by how several of the participants quit because of their emotional responses to being alone. They had the skills to continue and were feeding themselves, but being alone was too emotive for them. I've spent aggregate months alone in the wilderness, largely feeding myself, and never reacted negatively to it. Rather, I loved it. My longest stretch was five weeks, but I've also spent months alone on big rivers like the Ohio, Mississippi, and other rivers with occasional human contact. I have also interviewed world-class adventurers who've traveled thousands of miles into the wilderness. One paddled from Washington state to the Chilkoot Trail, partway down the Yukon, cross-country to a cabin he'd built years ago, which he discovered was burned to charred timbers, and then out to the Bering Sea, which he paddled south. He said two things that still ring in me, one that he was still "raw" from all he'd endured and the other was that even though he was tenderized, he couldn't drive a bridge over a river in Minnesota without wondering what was around the bend. In short, he'd taken a beating, but his curiosity wasn't beaten out of him. Some people have the notion that they'll thrive alone and imagine themselves spending happy years in the wilderness, but a few of these contestants folded in days or a couple weeks. I don't have to wonder how I'd fare. I know I'd be fine. How about you? Have you ever dreamed of being alone in the wilderness? How do you think you'd fare? Why?

Is that your PB, T.J.? It's a great photo of a great bass.

You're the best.

I fished for an hour and 45 minutes at my pond this evening. It was only 60 degrees and the wind speed was eight mph, but I still caught 17 with most of them in the 17-inch range. All were caught on a T-rigged blue craw. I've caught 344 bass in 2026 so far.

The fishing and water are just warming up. You're coming at the perfect time!

I'd also buy leeches in Canada and fish them with a small hook and a split shot. If a cold front hits, leeches still catch bass.

ME TOO! The bass in the two ponds I fish are always moving. It can take time to find them. Of course, there are times I launch and catch one on my first cast too. My two favorites are a VMC 5/0 heavy duty underspin with a paddletail or craw and a T-rigged craw. Both can be fished in cover or structure, shallow or deep. And both can be trolled.

There's the rub. It's hard to find bass in just an hour. I begin the first hour of many fishing trips with none or one bass. I PMed you. What helps me reduce noise is going slowly and being thoughtful when I'm moving equipment in my boats.

@Susky River Rat: Your smallies are soooooooooo dark and beautiful!

Leverage a small boat's natural advantage. Small boats are naturally quieter than bass boats. They can be close to silent. Strive for silence. Whenever I set a rod in my canoe or kayak, I lay it ever so gently on the hull or gunnels. Sometimes my bow bumps into a bass because they didn't hear me coming. Seeing that swirl is as exciting as catching a bass because it confirms that I'm quiet. Plus, fish the water that the bass boats can't reach. They can't fish water without ramps. They can't float in 12" of water. Canoes and kayaks can and bass live in 12" of water. If you have to walk through the woods to reach the water, fishing can be nearly unbelievably good. My preferred style is run and gun. I cover a lot of water when I launch. It's miles of paddling and I troll two rods when I'm paddling from one spot to another. I don't linger on a spot. I'm searching for the most active bass.

327 bass, Alex. I have never caught an Alabama bass. Dang it! But I'm glad you're catching them!

Thanks, Al. You're the best. I'm really proud of the afternoon of fishing I described. Maine Fish and Wildlife says that less than 1% of all Maine largemouth weigh four pounds or more. Well, I caught more than four pounds per bass in my bag with a 6.25, 5.5, 4.5, 4.2, and 4.2, giving me a 24.65-pound total. And that's at nearly 45 degrees latitude and I wasn't fishing a pond with bass-fattening trout or gobies. In-Fisherman says that such a bag would be equivalent to a 37.6-pound bag in the South. And I did that with a paddle and without FFS too. I'm also proud of the fact that this was my smallest bass. 16.5 inches, but thick: I was really dialed into big bass. Here are some others I didn't share in my trip report. They're long, but not as thick as the others: I've shared before that I'd rather catch a 20-pound bag than one, especially fine fish. A 20-pound bag means you're line is being really stretched five times.

I'd also be happy to own an Old Town Sportsman. It has a different hull than my NEXT. It's flatter, shorter, turns quicker, and more stable. However, my NEXT is pretty stable and it's faster than a Sportsman. The NEXT also tracks better and I use every inch of its extra length. I interviewed a lot of aeronautical engineers (Lockheed, Boeing, Cessna, etc.) and I realized that planes are a lot like boats. There's no plane that does everything well. Same with boats. You just have to decide what you value most. If you're deciding between a Sportsman and a NEXT and you're going to paddle MILES every trip, buy the NEXT. If you're going to do some river fishing or need a more stable boat, buy the Sportsman.

@Lottabass: My hands are pretty chewed too, Al. We're finally synced!

Way to fish, @Bazoo! Cool trip, @herder!

Congrats on retiring, Brian. That's big news!

I hate to disagree with you guys, but my Bell Rockstar canoe is by far my lightest boat at 32 pounds and it's 15' 6" long. Plus, my Old Town Predator kayak is by far my most stable boat. I stand on it and I'm nearly 70 years old. This is a good point. My Bell Rockstar canoe is a thin, FAST boat. My Old Town Predator is a barge. However, I do love its stability and its elevated seat. Consider a hybrid like my Old Town NEXT, with a kayak seat in a canoe hull with low sides. I love this boat. It's not as stable as my Old Town Predator kayak and not as fast as my Bell Rockstar canoe, but it's a comfortable compromise. Buy a NEXT and launch where the trailered boats can't. I paid $500 for mine USED. Being used doesn't matter. It's so sturdy that time and use don't really affect it. If you want something lighter and IF you can find it, the Bell Magic is a dream boat for many backwoods paddlers. It's light and fast, but it will buck you like a bronco. So will my Rockstar. Both boats have something called secondary stability, which means they're hard to tip AND sink, but they will chuck just you into the water. CAVEAT: The Bell Rockstar and Bell Magic haven't been made for years, but a used one should be just fine, albeit a couple decades old because they're like Packards to canoeists. If you own one, you're gentle with it.

I've been missing you guys!

Whoa!!! Another hippo!

Gosh, I missed Bass Resource. I tried a Maine bass fishing Facebook group for a few days, where I’d post pics of my catches, but some of the members only wanted to know where I fish. I’d be asked again and again to name my spots with nearly no interest in how I catch bass. They just wanted to fish my spots as if that would guarantee them good catches, which it won’t. I’ve seen other anglers struggle to catch bass at the two ponds I fish and speaking of struggling to catch bass, many of the members of that Facebook group also struggle to catch bass. I remember when Andy said that the thing he learned at Bass Resource is that an “average bassnut” can catch a lot of bass in the right place, but there sure are a lot of seemingly average bassnuts in Maine who can only catch a little bass or two. Anyway, because of my age, I’ve fished just two ponds in 2026, my pond and my pal’s pond, as I have a boat at each pond. There are bigger bass in the public access water I fished in 2023 and 2024, but I’m happy with smaller bass at my pond and my pal’s pond. I’ve caught some 19-inchers at my pond this year, but this 18.5-incher is my favorite: I had my best fishing outing at my pal’s pond a few days ago. Last year, I enjoyed fast fishing on a shoreline of low, bushy trees. I caught eight 15 to 16-inchers in eight casts, the most consecutive bass of my life.. I assumed that males liked to park under the trees prior to the spawn to ambush prey. So I tried the same stretch of shoreline again, but this year, there were big females under the trees in about three feet of water abutting a shallow flat and I caught my biggest 2026 bass so far. I caught her in a very cool way. I was casting a fat, white Whopper Plopper, but not casting tight to the cover because if my lure landed in a tree, I’d kill the fishing in that area while retrieving it. Well, one time only, my lure landed on a limb, so I jiggled it to free it. Every time I jiggled it, it seemed like the water beneath it stirred. Sure enough, when the lure jiggled free and landed on the water, the water erupted and I caught this girl. She was so long that I photographed her with the camera positioned over her head to capture her full length: I caught other thick girls the same way and enjoyed a 26-bass outing with only one bass at 16.5 inches, with all the rest being bigger. Here are some of those bigger ones, adding up to a 20-lb. plus bag: I also caught some off-shore, including a 19.5-incher and an 18.5-incher. My best ten could have won me first place and second place in some tournaments. I returned three days later and the big girls were gone, but I still caught 29 here and there, including another four-pounder. Bass are complex, so often on the move and I don’t know why, but I am determined to find them and I’ve caught many this year by fishing locations on my two ponds that I haven’t historically fished. Overall, my most productive lure has been a T-rigged, blue craw, both Keitech and Yamamoto, fished with a 3/16th oz. tungsten bullet weight. I’m at 327 bass for the year, but because of the wind, I’m having a hard time launching as much as I’d like and I don’t fish as long as I recently did due to being older. Plus, a couple weeks back, I had a couple mornings where my canoe was frosted and its painter/rope was frozen.

Man, you sure can catch 'em!

Hooray for Glenn! Here he is: